Active ageing and local government practices: The case of Agri

Nowadays, the lifetime of people are extenting, the birth rate is falling and elderly population individuals is increasing with the changes in the field of health and social structure all arounda the world. The changes in the social structures effects also the elderly individuals along with urbanization. Ageing is unpreventable process which individuals have changed as social, psychological and physical. Active ageing is a process which individuals are active in their whole life. With the ageing, the elderly individuals experience negativities such as the loss of visual and auditory, poor memory etc. With the active ageing the adverse conditions which experienced in the senescent period is aimed at the minimum level. Because of the increasing elderly population, there should required studies which is adequately, in casework and produce some policy for elderly people to increase elderly's quality of life, raise ageing awareness and to experience active ageing successfully. Local governments are an important structure in social policy applications in developed countries. It is important that policies and studies conducted in the context of active ageing should be provided with services for elderly people at the level of local governments in a comprehensive way and to ensure them socially. In common with urbanization, there should required for understand how elderly people sustain their daily life in the city life and what are their demands. The reflection of implementation of local government to the alteration how should be is among the important issues. In this study, the local governments effects of active aging policies were investigated by examining the concepts of ageing, senescence and active aging as literature. To that end, Agrı Municipality's services and applications for elderly people were evaluated as a local government by using the qualitative study method. Finally, it was observed that the elderly were generally satisfied with the municipal practices. It has been observed that some solution suggestions should be implemented in order to disseminate and announce the services provided. Key Words: Active Ageing, Ageing, Elderly, Local Government